Grading & Graduation Requirements
The attainment of proficiency in basic skills is an integral part of the school’s responsibility to provide a thorough and efficient education to students in the State of New Jersey. Students share in the responsibility for their own education. Thus, these graduation requirements are distributed to all students and to their parents so that they are aware of the conditions for graduation from Hackettstown High School with a state-endorsed diploma. Additionally, requirements for successfully mastering the standards of any particular course required for graduation will be distributed to students and parents at the start of the course.
The following criteria will be used to determine student promotion and high school graduation.
- Completion of course & credit requirements.
- Participation in and demonstrating proficiency on state-mandated graduation required assessments.
- Satisfactory attendance.
Failure to meet curriculum proficiencies and/or failure to comply with the district attendance policy in any course will result in a failure. This may impact eligibility for graduation as stated in Board policies #5113 and #6146.
Grading & Honor Rolls
Grading Scale
Hackettstown High School uses the following grading scale:
- "A" = 90 - 100 = Full Credit Earned
- "B" = 80 - 89 = Full Credit Earned
- "C" = 70 - 79 = Full Credit Earned
- "D" = 65 - 69 = Full Credit Earned
- "F" = 0 - 64 = No Credit Earned
- "NCA" = 50 = No Credit Earned (Due to Attendance)
Additional grades for rare situations include:
- "P" = Passing Grade / No Numeric Grade = Full Credit Earned
- "F" = Failing Grade / 50 = No Credit Earned
- "WP" = Withdrawn While Passing / No Numeric Grade = No Credit Earned
- "WF" = Withdrawn While Failing / 50 = No Credit Earned
- "AUD" = Audit / No Numeric Grade = No Credit Earned
High Honor Roll & Honor Roll
Every marking period an honor roll will be calculated to recognize students for outstanding academic achievement. The following criteria is used to determine who qualifies:
- Grades receive the GPA bonus based on the academic rigor of the class. In the examples below the student received a report card grade of 100:
- CP Course = 100 + 0 = 100
- CPA Course = 100 + 4 = 104
- HON Course = 100 + 8 = 108
- AP Course = 100 + 10 = 110
- High Honor Roll requires every class to have a grade of 90 or higher (after the GPA bonus is applied). This is per class and is not the average of the grades.
- Honor Roll requires every class to have a grade of 80 or higher (after the GPA bonus is applied). This is per class and is not the average of the grades.
Additionally:
- Students must be enrolled in six or more classes that are graded on a numeric scale. Some classes that receive a non-numeric grade (P, WP or AUD) do not count as one of the six classes needed to be eligible.
- Earning a non-numeric grade of F or WF will remove a student from all honor rolls.
Grade Point Averages (GPAs) & Class Rank
The GPA (or grade point average) is a cumulative "grade for high school". It's the sum of how a student has done in each class taken at Hackettstown High School. A Class Rank is when all the students in a particular grade level are "ranked" from the highest GPA to the lowest GPA. Please note that Hackettstown Public schools does not publicly publish a class rank.
Hackettstown calculates and reports a numeric GPA on transcripts. Additionally, this numeric GPA will be reported as both unweighted and weighted.
- An unweighted GPA is calculated based only on the grade on the report card. The highest possible grade on an unweighted scale is 100.
- A weighted GPA takes into consideration the academic rigor of the classes which were taken. The report card grade receives a bonus before the weighted GPA is calculated:
- CP classes receive no bonus;
- CPA classes receive a +4 bonus (only for classes taken in 2017-18 or later);
- HON classes receive a +8 bonus;
- AP classes receive a +10 bonus.
A "standard" or "4-point" GPA can be calculated when it is the only GPA which will be accepted by a college or scholarship opportunity.
When calculating a weighted GPA the following process is used:
- ( Grade Earned + Weight Bonus ) x Number of Credits the Class is Worth = Quality Points Earned;
- Repeat for each class taken;
- Sum the Quality Points Earned for each class taken;
- Sum the Number of Credits the Class is Worth for each class taken;
- Divide the ( Sum of the Quality Points Earned ) by ( Sum of the Number of Credits the Class is Worth ).
The above process can be used for calculating an unweighted GPA by removing the ( Weight Bonus ) for classes.
GRADE-POINT AVERAGE (GPA) TABLE
The following table summarizes the GPA values based on grade earned and academic rigor of classes.
Please note that the CPA +4 bonus does not apply to the 2016-17 school year. This bonus only applies to classes taken in 2017-28 or later.
Graduation Requirements: Credits & Courses
Please note that the information below outlines the minimal requirements to graduate. Entrance requirements to college vary but will require more coursework than indicated below. Any academic level is acceptable for meeting graduation requirements.
Please contact your guidance counselor with any questions or concerns.
| REQUIREMENT AREA AND/OR COURSES | NO. OF COURSES | NO. OF CREDITS |
|
English 9, 10, 11 & 12
|
4 | 20 |
|
Algebra 1, Geometry & one extra year of math that builds on Algebra & Geometry skills
** Students who take Algebra 1 in 8th grade still need 3 years of math in High School **
** Double-block classes only count as one of the three math classes required **
|
3 | 15 |
| Biology & two additional courses (Environmental Science, Chemistry or Physics) | 3 | 15 |
| World History, US History 1 & US History 2 | 3 | 15 |
|
World Language
** 2-3 Years of World Language is required by colleges **
|
1 | 5 |
| Visual & Performing Arts Elective |
1 Full Year or
2 Semesters
|
5 |
| Business & Technology Elective |
1 Full Year or
2 Semesters
|
5 |
| Personal Finance | 1 Semester | 2.5 |
|
College & Careers or Career Exploration
** Careers 9 & 10, taken during the PE class, in conjunction with this course meet the requirement for 21st Century Life & Careers **
|
1 Semester | 2.5 |
|
Health, Safety & Physical Education
** The total number of credits for four years of Health, Safety & Physical Education may vary. **
|
4 Full Year or
8 Semesters
|
MAY VARY |
| MINIMUM NUMBER OF CREDITS TO GRADUATE | 120 |
Graduation Requirements: State Testing
Please Note: Due to COVID-19 impact, state testing requirements may be modified as per the most recent announcement from the NJ Department of Education.
New Jersey has administered statewide assessments since the 1970s, and over the years the testing program has evolved. It began as a measure of basic skills, and after 1996 it has assessed the state's academic standards. In 2002, after the federal government enacted the No Child Left Behind Act, every state was required to test students in mathematics and English language arts (ELA) in grades 3 through 8 and at least once in high school. That mandate is still in effect under the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015.
All New Jersey students must successfully meet the assessment requirements in order to graduate. These requirements have been evolving and the most recent version should always be found at the link above. However, we are linking the most current version (as of September 2019) below for your convenience.
Promotion & Retention
Grade level promotion is based on: (1) cumulative credits earned, and (2) the number of years of high school enrollment. Students must satisfy both requirements to be promoted to the next grade level.
Students are retained in their current grade if they do not meet the requirements to be promoted to the next grade level. Some additional information is as follows:
- Retained juniors (who should be seniors) are not eligible for senior privileges -- such as Open Block.
- Students will need to repeat failed courses necessary for graduation.
- Students never have to repeat courses that they have passed.
- Students may continue to progress to the next course in areas that they’ve passed.
Additionally, student athletes must meet NJSIAA requirements (summarized below) to be eligible to play sports. Being promoted to a particular grade does not guarantee athletic eligibility. However, students who have not met the requirements to be promoted to the next grade should assume that they will not be able to play fall or winter sports.
Students who successfully participate in summer school or other approved credit recovery opportunities will have their grade level reassessed.
Athletic Eligibility
All High Schools, athletic teams and student athletes in NJ must comply with NJSIAA requirements in order to participate in sports. Any questions or concerns should be directed to the Hackettstown Athletic Office.
Please note that the following is a summary of current NJSIAA requirements. Those requirements are subject to change. All eligibility determinations will be based off of current requirements and not necessarily what is published below.
- First time freshmen are automatically eligible for fall and winter sports.
- Sophomores, juniors and seniors must earn 30 credits from the previous year to be eligible for fall and winter sports
- Freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors are eligible for spring sports if they are passing 6 courses in the fall term of that school year.
- Seniors taking fewer than 6 courses in their fall semester will be eligible for spring sports only if they are on-track to meet graduation requirements.
The Hackettstown Athletic web-pages have all the information and forms that you'll need:
The NJSIAA is the governing organization for all New Jersey Athletic programs.
Course Failures or NCA (No Credit for Excessive Absences)
ACADEMIC FAILURES
Any student who receives a final grade below 65 in a course taken during the regular school year will receive zero credits towards graduation for that course. Students who fail courses are in danger of (1) being retained in their current grade, (2) being ineligible to play sports the following year, (3) being ineligible to graduate after four years. Families have a variety of options to address these concerns and it’s strongly recommended that these decisions be made in conjunction with the guidance counselor.
Students may enroll in a summer school course. Summer school courses are not offered at Hackettstown High School and are at the family’s expense. Summer school programs are available online and often at other local High Schools. Summer school information is available in the guidance office as it is received (usually in June).
- Families that choose to participate in summer school should contact the guidance office to make sure that the Next Year Schedule has the proper courses selected.
- Only approved summer school providers may be utilized.
- A transcript showing the summer school provider, course taken and grade earned must be provided to the guidance office upon completion of the course. Additionally, this may need to be provided to the athletic office to demonstrate eligibility to play sports as per NJSIAA regulations.
- The student’s guidance counselor will update promotional status, the transcript and GPA.
- The summer school course will be added as a second entry on the transcript. The original failed course and grade will remain on the transcript. The summer school grade does not replace the original failed course.
Students may repeat the failed course the following school year. Repeating a course may mean the student is (1) retained in his/her grade, (2) ineligible to play sports, (3) unable to graduate with his/her classmates.
ATTENDANCE LOSS OF CREDIT
Students with excessive absenteeism in a class will lose credit for that course, regardless of the grade earned. A “NCA” (No Credit due to Attendance) is entered as the final grade with zero credits earned for the transcript. NCAs are the same as a final grade of 50 for GPA calculations. NCAs count as failed courses in every way and may be taken in summer school or repeated the following year. Please reference the attendance policy for additional information.
Summer School & Credit Recovery
Credit Recovery means students may ONLY take courses in the summer that they have previously taken during the school year, but did not successfully earn the credit.
Students may not take a summer course instead of taking it during the regular school year. For example: a student cannot take Algebra 2 in summer school in order to move to pre-calculus in the next school year.
If you need credit recovery or summer school- please see your school counselor for approved programs.